New District in Toronto Will Tackle the Challenges of Urban Growth

Waterfront Toronto

Waterfront Toronto and Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs to Create Neighbourhoods That Blend People-Centred Urban Design with Cutting-Edge Technology

Toronto, ON – Oct 17, 2017

“Sidewalk Toronto” Aims to Make Toronto’s Eastern Waterfront the Global Hub for Urban Innovation, Starting with Google’s Canadian Headquarters

Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto announced today “Sidewalk Toronto,” their joint effort to design a new kind of mixed-use, complete community on Toronto’s Eastern Waterfront. Sidewalk Toronto will combine forward-thinking urban design and new digital technology to create people-centred neighbourhoods that achieve precedent-setting levels of sustainability, affordability, mobility, and economic opportunity.

The announcement of Sidewalk Toronto was made at Corus Quay on the Eastern Waterfront by Will Fleissig and Dan Doctoroff, CEOs of Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs, respectively; Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne; Toronto Mayor John Tory; and Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Alphabet, Inc.

After exploring opportunities all over the world, Sidewalk Labs, an Alphabet company, responded to a Request for Proposals (RFP) issued in March 2017 by Waterfront Toronto that sought an innovation and funding partner for the Eastern Waterfront, beginning with the creation of a new neighbourhood called Quayside, located at Parliament Slip.

Following a rigorous procurement process involving a number of local and international firms, Waterfront Toronto selected Sidewalk Labs as its partner; the company has committed $50 million USD to an initial phase of joint planning and pilot project testing. To initiate a public conversation about what might be possible on the Eastern Waterfront, Sidewalk Labs has released the vision laid out in its RFP response, which can be found at www.sidewalktoronto.ca.

Consistent with the RFP, Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto will work with the City to bring urban innovations advanced at Quayside to scale in the Port Lands, the primarily publicly-owned area of more than 325 hectares (800 acres), one of North America’s largest areas of underdeveloped urban land. A recent $1.25 billion CAD investment by federal, provincial, and municipal governments will enable Waterfront Toronto to provide the flood protection and critical infrastructure necessary to revitalize the area.

Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs will devote the next year to extensive community and stakeholder consultation and long-range planning, focused on improving infrastructure and transportation systems, creating new models of affordable housing and flexible retail uses, and establishing clear governance policies related to data protection and privacy. This critical public engagement will culminate in a Master Innovation and Development Plan that, if adopted by the Board of Directors of Waterfront Toronto and by Sidewalk Labs, will form the basis for the Quayside development and any subsequent revitalization of City-owned lands in the Eastern Waterfront. This process will kick off with a community Town Hall on November 1, 2017.

Knowing that great neighbourhoods aren’t planned from the top down, Sidewalk Toronto will create the conditions for a community to be built—and innovations launched—by people, companies, startups, academic centres, and local organizations over many years. Sidewalk Toronto aims to make the Eastern Waterfront the global hub of a new industry focused on urban innovation to improve the quality of city life, tapping into Toronto’s already-thriving tech sector and developing innovations that could benefit communities and neighbourhoods elsewhere in the city. To help get started, Alphabet plans to move Google’s Canadian headquarters to the Eastern Waterfront.

The district will become a place for tens of thousands of people to live, work, learn, and play—and to create and advance new ideas that improve city life, from climate-positive energy systems that can deliver a new standard in sustainability, to self-driving transit that makes streets safer, to new construction techniques that can lower housing costs. It will also reflect the cultural diversity and openness of Toronto, and help connect all Torontonians to waterfront beaches, parks, and communities.

Working together with the local community, Sidewalk Toronto aspires to create a place that encourages innovation around energy, waste, and other environmental challenges to protect the planet; a place that provides a range of transportation options that are more affordable, safe, and convenient than the private car; a place that embraces adaptable buildings and new construction methods to reduce the cost of housing and retail space; a place where public spaces welcome families to enjoy the outdoors day and night, and in all seasons; a place that is enhanced by digital technology and data without giving up the privacy and security that everyone deserves.